Running Blind
by musiclover610
Summary: This is my take on how Josh died.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.**

Running Blind.

Josh sat up immediately in his green sleeping bag. The cold smooth material stuck to him with sweat as his heart felt like it was about to leap out of his chest. His head swung around from side to side to try to catch a glimpse of what awoke him.

But there was no use, it was pitch black inside the tent. He couldn't even see Heather or Mike that slept only a few inches away. His heart continued to race but the shaking in his shoulders stopped. Perhaps it was just a silly nightmare that woke him?

Hopefully, he thought. He closed his eyes from the darkness and laid back down. He breathed deeply in and out and focused on the even breathing of Heather next to him. If only he was asleep, and didn't have to deal with the thick silence that surrounded him. He frowned to himself.

The silence didn't sound normal, if that makes any sense at all. It wasn't the soothing type of silence after a violent thunder storm. This was a dead silence. A thick, hot, and utterly terrifying silence. His hands gripped onto his sleeping bag.

God, he hates the dark. His hands shook slowly as he tried to distract himself by thinking of the 50 states.

_Washington, Nebraska, California… _

CRACK!

His eyes shot open. But the blackness of the night was all that he could see. He swallowed dryly and felt tears burn in the corners of his eyes. He closed them again and hid under his sleeping bag.

_Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York… _

CRACK!

His body began to tremble in fear as he listened to leaves and sticks around him began to break. Like footsteps, he screamed in his head. He reached his hand out from his sleeping bag and tapped Heather's shoulder.

"Heather." It barely came out above a whisper.

CRACK!

He tapped it again, more urgently this time. "Heather, please." He cried.

CRACK!

The noise was closer this time. Josh shrunk inside of his sleeping bag as hot tears ran down his cheeks.

CRACK!

God, make it go away. He cried to himself silently and listened. But it stopped. He opened his eyes and waited. His heart was about to have a heart attack, he was sure, and his head was spinning. His fingertips shook lightly and his heart slowed a bit, as time slowly passed.

Nothing. It left. He smiled to himself and laid back down.

_Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Texas…_

The walls of the tent began to get pushed in all around him. Screams and giggles of children filled his ears as the walls of the tent shook. He kicked the sleeping bag off of him and ran out of the tent screaming.

He ran with his hands out in front of him incase of trees. Twigs and branches scratched and pulled at his skin, but he kept running. The giggles and screams of the children surrounded him and got louder with each footstep.

He screamed as his foot ran into something hard causing him to flip over and land onto his back. A great force pressed down on him, suffocating him. His body shook and jerked, trying hard to escape from the pressure being pushed down onto him.

A tight hand held onto his chin and the top of his head. He tried to swing his head from side to side to break free but the hold was too strong. With a loud sickening snap the hands pushed his chin and the upper part of his jaw into different directions.

He screamed as pain burned into him, spreading like wild fire. His legs kicked at the air as the little giggles and screams got louder.

At first, there was only pain. It was worse then anything he's ever felt. The pain, so excruciating, made him beg to God to kill him. It worsened with each passing second, making his pleas become more urgent and more pathetic.

Then, he noticed light. It was shining through his eyelids. After a few moments he realized that it was sunlight. If he could, he would have jumped for joy, but he soon realized that he couldn't move. He opened his eyes to see nothing but the sky.

He wasn't sure where he was, but he didn't want to move. He could hear no giggling or screaming, and there was nothing holding him down. He guessed that he was safe for the moment. But, out here you could never be too sure.

"JOSH!!" His head snapped around to the sound of his name being called. With tears of joy he realized who had called his name. It was Heather, her voice never sounded so good.

He opened his mouth to speak but pain shot through him. He cried out gibberish and screamed at God inside of his head. He had no tongue.

"JOSH!" Mike screamed his name, he was so close. A few yards away. But Josh couldn't cry out. Tears bubbled out onto his cheeks as he sobbed silently.

He was dead, gone. There was no hope for him now. They wouldn't find him before night fall. He was sure that what ever attacked him last night would come again. So he sat there, crying silently, waiting for darkness.

When the sun began to set, and the woods became eerie and petrifying, he was ready. He was okay with dying. All he wanted, was for it to come quick and painless.

CRACK!

Tears fell down his cheek and he began to bawl. The hand came again, and tightened on his arm. Another hand held him down, as the grip on his arm tightened and began to pull. He screamed as pain seeped through him.

Multiple hands grabbed onto his hands, legs and feet and began to pull him into different directions. He screamed and felt the pain grow and grow and soon it was unbearable.

But with a loud THUMP everything faded away and the pain disappeared.

Joshua Leonard was dead.


End file.
